January 27, 2009

Cat Mama is the feral cat my mom has been feeding for a little over a year.   In the past year, she’s become used to Mom and will now follow her around the yard, down to the mailbox and back to the house, out to the garden where she’ll supervise Mom working, and just about anywhere else.  Most of the time, Cat Mama meows away as she’s walking with Mom, as if she’s talking about things she’s seen that day.  Mom enjoys her company, especially when she’s working in one of her many flowerbeds or in the garden as she’s got another living creature to talk to.  Sometimes, Cat Mama will sit on the mat outside the back door, as if she knows her human is in there and hopes she’ll come outside.  If Mom is working in the sun room, Cat Mama will sit outside the screen door and meow for her attention.  If Mom is sitting on the patio, sipping coffee and reading the newspaper or a magazine, Cat Mama will sit or lie down nearby and keep her company.

I’d noticed on rainy days that Cat Mama slept on a shelf under Mom’s little gardening table.  Since the weather began getting colder around Thanksgiving, I got an inexpensive litter box that’s shallow on one end, put some newspaper in it, and set it up under the carport so Cat Mama would have somewhere cozy to sleep.  Dad didn’t like the idea of the cat sleeping close to the house, so Mom put the box away in the sun room.  A couple of days later, she put some old towels in the litter box and set it up on the shelf under the gardening table; Cat Mama got in the box shortly afterwards.  That box is now her bed and she sleeps/sits there on rainy days and sleeps there most nights.  She can sit in the box and watch the backyard or curl into a ball and sleep in security and comfort.

Shortly before Christmas, Cat Mama took the brave step of sniffing Mom’s pant leg after Mom put food in her dish.  That was the closest the cat had ever come.  A couple of days later, she barely brushed her head against Mom’s pant leg.  Mom said the cat seemed startled that she’d done that and quickly trotted off a couple of feet.  Since then, Mom stands perfectly still after putting kibbles in the bowl in hopes that Cat Mama will make contact again.

This week, Cat Mama lightly brushed up against Mom’s leg several times without feeling scared.  This morning, Mom put the kibbles in the bowl, Cat Mama brushed up against her leg, and Mom gently touched the tip of the cat’s tail.  Cat Mama didn’t know what to think of that, apparently, and was quite startled.  When I got to my parents’ house this evening after work, Cat Mama was sitting near the doormat, almost in hopes that her human would come outside. 

Over the past 6 months, I’ve shared stories with Mom of how I befriended a feral cat many, many years ago; that cat gave me one of the most precious gifts I’ve ever had–one of her kittens.   I’ve emphasized that Mom just needed to be patient and let her relationship with Cat Mama develop on the cat’s terms.  I’ve teased her for a while, telling her that she’s Cat Mama’s human.  Cat Mama has finally decided that Mom is indeed her very own human and it looks they’ve been able to leave a pawprint and a handprint on each other’s hearts.